Normally in December popes are talking about “peace on earth, joy and goodwill”. In an uncharacteristically somber message given December 13th, Pope Francis predicted a grim future on earth during his Mass at the Vatican on Sunday, warning he sees “greater omens of greater destruction and desolation” in the world.
Then combine that with a recent PEW Research Center study released this month that reveals that, 39% of adults in the United States say they believe “we are living in the end times”.
This sounds like the conditions Jesus foretold in Luke 21:26 that before Christ returns, men’s hearts will be “failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth”.
The good news is, that when people are frightened, they are more open to the gospel.